York Hotel

The York Hotel, a brick building from about 1910, had been painted cream in a bid to lighten its presence. The cream-coloured brick showed street dirt, and the cornice – painted burgundy to contrast with the cream – was not appropriate for the building.

A return to its original appearance was recommended: Brick red, with a stone-coloured cornice to give visual weight to the building, and a visual connection with the building next door. Consideration was also given to the rest of the street – mostly full of grey buildings. By painting the York Hotel brick red, it respected its specific architecture, but also warmed up this block of Johnson Street on the side of the street that faces north, and is always in shadow.

The building owner ensured that necessary repairs, including repairing the metal cornice over the Store fronts, were completed prior to painting.

The picture shows the ‘before’ picture, with several shades of ‘brick’ coloured paint to see what worked best with the building next door, owned by someone else.